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The United States gave China and Singapore exemptions from new sanctions targeting Iran's central bank and oil industry, which took effect Thursday. The sanctions will penalize nations and foreign companies that do business with Tehran, but China and Singapore became the 19th and 20th countries to receive waivers, which can be renewed after six months.

The Obama administration has been trying to pressure Iran economically into stopping the enrichment of uranium at 20 percent levels, but recently has added negotiation and diplomacy to its tool box, with the P5 + 1 talks now underway. Since the U.S. sanctions and a European Union embargo were announced, Iran's exports have decreased by about a million barrels of oil per day, which equates to about $8 billion per quarter, according the CNN . Contemporaneously, the Iranian rial has dropped in value by 45 percent, while unemployment and inflation rise.

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